Upon his first inauguration in March 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) and his close advisers and cabinet members immediately began to develop and write legislation designed to help bring the United States out of the Great Depression, the worst economic crisis ever experienced by the nation. The legislation and the relief and recovery programs it created became known as the New Deal. Once the most urgent needs of hunger and unemployment were addressed, the president turned his attention to establishing permanent programs of recovery, reform, and rebuilding. Included among these programs were the National Housing Act of 1934, the Social Security Act of 1935, and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.

The Great Depression dealt blows to both the home owner and the construction industry. In 1932 between 250,000 and 275,000 homes were lost to foreclosure. (In comparison, 68,000 homes were foreclosed in 1926.) Foreclo-sure is a legal proceeding in which a...